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"There is a long tradition of artists making works that reflect the political world. Artists are, after all, members of our societies, subject to all the turmoil that everybody else is. And members of a society participate to varying degrees in the give-and-take that helps define our lives. One important arena is in political comment and debate.
Beyond voting and the occasional bumper sticker, I have rarely taken part in political debate. That changed with George W. Bush. As a retired Navy intelligence officer, I watched in horror as Bush used distorted intelligence reports to justify sending our troops to die in an unnecessary, ill-advised war. As a political moderate, I watched as the far right viciously attacked dissenters as unpatriotic. And as an American, I watched as ambitious politicians began dismantling the foundations of American freedoms for their own partisan and personal gain.
Joe McCarthy would've been proud of them.
But I can't sit by and watch this any more. All of us have an obligation to speak our minds in whatever way we can. I'm a painter. And these paintings are my comments on what has happened in our country since Bush's inauguration."
This series is still ongoing, and new images will be added as the paintings are completed.
Click on image to enlarge
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